Nurse Research Scientist
Department Head-Nursing Research
Directorate for Professional Education
Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command, Portsmouth

Dr. Cunningham grew up in a small town in Nebraska and graduated from Ashland-Greenwood High School in 1986. He earned his B.A. in psychology and his B.S. in nursing from University of Nebraska in 1992 and 1995, respectively. He entered the active duty Navy in 1995. As a Navy Nurse for the past 22 years, his assignments took him to South Carolina, Virginia, and Florida working in a variety of roles including medical surgical nurse, perioperative nurse, director and instructor for the Navy’s perioperative nurse training program, and nurse researcher. While stationed in Virginia he was selected for Duty Under Instruction and attended Hampton University where he earned his M.S. in nursing administration and education in 2004. Dr. Cunningham is a certified nurse for the operating room (CNOR) and he collaborated with the Association of Operating Room Nurses (AORN) and beta tested the online Perioperative 101 course which is now the specialty’s standard training. While stationed in Florida, he was again selected for Duty Under Instruction which allowed him the opportunity to earn his PhD in nursing sciences, with a mental health focus, at the University of Florida. In his current role as the head of Nursing Research and Consultative Services, Dr. Cunningham mentors multiple DNP and PhD students in designing and conducting military relevant research, evidence based practice, and process improvement projects.